GGI Asia-Pacific Regional Conference | Hong Kong
Ronnie C. Chan is Chairman of Hang Lung Group Limited and its subsidiary Hang Lung Properties Limited. Both are publicly listed companies in Hong Kong, with the latter being a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index. Founded in 1960, the Group has been expanding into mainland China since 1992. For the year of 2014, Hang Lung Properties reported a net profit of US$1.51 billion.
Internationally, Mr Chan is Co-Chair of the Board of Asia Society and Chairman of its Hong Kong Center, a founding Trustee of African-Asian Society and a Director of the Board of Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a member of Council on Foreign Relations, National Committee on United States-China Relations, Committee of 100, and the Advisory Board of Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. Mr Chan is a former director of Standard Chartered PLC and Motorola, Inc. He is also a former member of the governing boards of World Economic Forum, East-West Center, Pacific Council on International Policy, Eisenhower Fellowships, and The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation.
Mr Chan is a frequent speaker at international conferences and has published numerous articles in International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, Newsweek, Fortune, Asian Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review and Japan Times. Mr Chan holds an MBA from University of Southern California, a Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa from Tel Aviv University, and honorary doctorate degrees in social sciences from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The Chinese University of Hong Kong respectively.
In 2009, he received the Outstanding Persons Award for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural Relics and the Highest Alumni Award of University of Southern California. In 2014, he received the US-Asia Institute Award for International Public Service and Philanthropy for the dedication to facilitating communication and understanding between Asia and the global community. He is 65 years of age and resides in Hong Kong with his wife. They have two grown sons.
GGI Asia-Pacific Regional Conference | Hong Kong
Phil Glaser is an internationally renowned specialist in large-scale organisational transformation and in ensuring competitive advantage through aligning organisational culture and brand.
Trained in the USA and the UK, Phil was a founding member of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa. He pioneered political mediation in South Africa and the training of peace facilitators in alternative conflict resolution.
In a career spanning 25 years as a consultant in South Africa, the UK, the USA and Australia, Phil has worked directly with CEOs and senior executives of public and private organisations, helping to maximise the intangible organisational assets of culture and brand to achieve competitive advantage and superior performance.
GGI World Conference | Boston, MA, USA
Jacob Soll, professor of history and accounting at USC Dornsife, examines the origins of modern politics and the modern state by looking at essential elements often overlooked by political historians.
Soll received a BA from the University of Iowa, a DEA from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France, and a PhD from Magdalene College, Cambridge University. He has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and, in 2011, the MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
Soll’s first book, "The Prince" (2005), examines how Machiavelli's work was popularised and influenced modern political thought. In his second book, “The Information Master” (2009), Soll investigates how Louis XIV's famous Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert fused financial management and library sciences to create one of the first modern information states.
His most recent book, “The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations” (2014), presents a sweeping history of accounting and politics, drawing on a wealth of examples from over a millennia of human history to reveal how accounting can used to both build kingdoms, empires and entire civilizations, but also to undermine them. It explains the origins of our own financial crisis as deeply rooted in a long disconnect between human beings and their attempts to manage financial numbers.
Soll was a correspondent for the Boston Globe, and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Politico, the New Republic, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
GGI World Conference | Boston, MA, USA
A citizen of the world with boundless energy and a genuine passion for human potential, William Arruda has the distinct privilege of having delivered more personal branding keynotes to more people in more places than anyone else on earth! He has been credited with turning the concept of personal branding into a global industry. A corporate branding veteran and accomplished entrepreneur, William is the founder and President of Reach, the global leader in personal branding with representatives in 45 countries and products that have been used by more than a million people around the world.
William has seen first-hand how personal branding ignites potential and bolsters trust, loyalty and engagement between an organization and its people. He’s passionate about helping companies and associations engage and activate their talent through the power of personal branding and social media.
As a thought-leader, William is a spokesperson on personal branding and social media. He has appeared on BBC TV, the Discovery Channel, Fox News Live and NPR and he’s been featured in countless publications including Time, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur. He is the bestselling author of the definitive books on executive branding, “Ditch. Dare. Do!” and “Career Distinction”, and he writes a regular personal branding column for Forbes. He holds a Master’s degree in Education.
William exudes optimism and a genuine belief in the power of the individual to achieve great things. He not only sees the glass as half full, he sees the potential for it to be overflowing.
GGI World Conference | Boston, MA, USA
Marc H. Meyer is the Robert J. Shillman Professor of Entrepreneurship and the Matthews Distinguished Professor of Business at Northeastern University. Northeastern is known as the leading Cooperative Education academic institution in the U.S., where student internships are closely integrated with academic programs. In 2006, Dr. Meyer started Northeastern’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group in the College of Business, where he and his colleagues have helped many students and alumni start their own companies. Northeastern is now ranked as one of the leading undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the United States. Dr. Meyer also serves as part of leadership team of IDEA, Northeastern’s on-campus venture accelerator, and of Northeastern’s Center for Entrepreneurship Education, a university-wide resource that helps students and alumni launch new companies.
Dr. Meyer is a graduate of Harvard College and holds graduate degrees from M.I.T. While a PhD student in his mid-20s, he left MIT for five years to build his first software company, a leader in real-time embedded operating systems and development tools. Since then, he has been a Visiting Professor and a Scientist at M.I.T, a Visiting Professor at Delft Technical University in the School of Industrial Design, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Nyenrode Business University.
GGI German-Speaking Chapter | Salzburg, Austria
Dr. Busek began his professional career as legal advisor to the association of parliamentarians of the Austrian People's Party. He then served in a number of administrative positions, including Secretary-General of the Austrian Federation for Trade and Commerce, Secretary-General of the Austrian People's Party, Deputy-Mayor of Vienna, Minister of Science and Research, Minister of Education, Vice Chancellor of Austria, Special Representative of the Austrian Government for the Enlargement of the European Union and Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South-eastern Europe.
Currently he is, among other things Chairman of the Institute for the Danube region and Central Europe (IDM), President of the Vienna Economic Forum (VEF), Coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and Jean Monnet Professor ad personam.
GGI Nordic-Baltic Meeting | Helsinki, Finland
Heikki Talvitie is a Finnish diplomat and a well-known Russian expert. He has served as an ambassador in Belgrade 1984-1988, Moscow in 1988-1992 and Stockholm, 1996-2002.Talvitie graduated from University of Helsinki in 1963 and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1964. In addition to his ambassador's duties, Heikki Talvitie has also worked for the Hague embassy, as well as in New York, as an UN representative.
Over his extensive career he has held many high profile positions, including Minister Counsellor in Moscow 1976-1980, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Head of Office 1980-1982 EU special representative in the Caucasus, as well as the OSCE's Special Envoy for Georgia.
He has also held many positions of trust, including Finland-Russia Society Chairman 2002-2014 and the President of the Association Council 2014, Friends of History Association Chairman since 2000 and the Museum Association Chairman since 2003.
GGI Nordic-Baltic Meeting | Helsinki, Finland
Kimmo Sasi is a Finnish National Coalition Party politician. He was a member of the parliament from 1983 to 2015. He has been the Minister for Transport and Communications in 1999 and 2002, and the Minister for Foreign Trade and European Affairs 1999-2002.
Kimmo Sasi has obtained a Bachelor of Laws (1974), master's degree in economics (1975) and Master of Laws (1978, Columbia University).
From 1999-2003 Sasi was co-chairman of the Finland-Russia Trade comission. He has also been Chairman for the Constitutional Committee from 2011, is a Chairman for the Finance Committee.
Helen Brand - ACCA
Helen Brand OBE is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the global body for professional accountants, a post she has held since 2008.
Helen has built her career within professional bodies and has considerable experience and knowledge of the industry. She has worked closely with International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in an advisory capacity over many years, served on the Supervisory Board of the Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) forum and is a founding member of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).
Helen was awarded her OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June 2011 for services to accountancy and received an honorary degree from BPP University College as a doctor of Business Administration in May 2012.
GGI Leadership Forum | Eisenberg, Austria
Marko Mihkelson is a Member of Estonian Parliament. He chairs the National Defence Committee and also is a member of European Union Affairs Committee.
Marko Mihkelson was first elected to the Parliament in 2003 and is currently serving his fourth mandate. He has served in previous parliaments as a Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee and Chair of EU Affairs Committee. Between 2000 and 2003 he worked as the Director of the Baltic Centre for Russian Studies, from 1997 to 2000 he was the Editor-in-Chief of the biggest national daily newspaper Postimees and from 1994 to 1997 he was Postimees’s correspondent in Moscow. He has an MA degree in History from the University of Tartu. He is author of “Russia: In Dusk and Dawn” (in Estonian).
GGI Leadership Forum | Eisenberg, Austria
Professor Dr. Teodoro Cocca, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of GGI, is Professor of Asset Management and member of the Research Institute for Banking and Finance at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria.
He is also Adjunct Professor at the Swiss Finance Institute in Zurich. Prior to that, he worked at Citibank for several years, where he was involved in investment and private banking, conducted research at the Stern School of Business in New York and taught at the Swiss Banking Institute of the University of Zurich. As an adjunct lecturer for banking and finance at the University of Zurich, he is coveted speaker at academic conventions and international conferences and is adviser to a number of financial institutions.
In October 2011, the banking expert was selected as Dean of Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at the Johannes Kepler University.
Professor Cocca was born in Switzerland and has Italian roots. He is the Chairman of the annual European Private Banking Summit, which takes place in Zurich. He is a member of the Board of Directors of VP Bank and an advisor to various finance companies in Switzerland and abroad.
GGI European Regional Conference | Lausanne, Switzerland
Peter E Regli, born on 20 July 1944 in Airolo, Ticino, Switzerland, has a Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the SFIT (ETH) Zürich and acts as consultant in national security issues in Switzerland and abroad.
After twelve years as an engineer in the Federal Armament and Procurement Agency in Bern, he directed, from 1981 until 1988, the Swiss Air Force Intelligence Service. From 1990 until 1999, he headed the Swiss Intelligence Service as its Director with the rank of Major General. Peter was a fighter pilot in Swiss Air Force, and commanded a fighter squadron, a wing and a fighter regiment. From 1974 until 1977, he served as Deputy Defense Attaché and military-diplomat in Scandinavia, at the Swiss Embassy in Stockholm (Sweden).
Peter speaks Italian (his mother tongue), French, German, English, Spanish, Swedish and basic Russian. He is married to Irene Krieger (who has a Master’s degree in Law) and lives in Bern. He is a Swiss ski instructor, an amateur chef and enjoys Italian opera. He and his wife love meeting interesting people from different cultures, worldwide.
GGI European Regional Conference | Lausanne, Switzerland
Benoît Dubuis brings almost 20 years of international experience in the field of life sciences, both in industry and in academic science management. After his training as Chemical engineer, his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich (ETH Medal 1995) and academic activity in Cambridge and Cranfield in England, he occupied different management positions in pharmaceutical companies, including Chemap, Ciba-Geigy/Novartis and Lonza.
Benoit joined the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in 2000, as Licensing Executive and adviser for the school management. He established the School of Life Sciences and served as its first Dean. He also launched the BioAlps organization.
In 2004 he co-founded Eclosion, the first Swiss Life Sciences seed-fund and incubator. In June 2013, he was appointed Executive Director of Campus Biotech Geneva and Development Director of the Wyss Center.
In addition to his appointments, Dr. Dubuis is the president of the BioAlps association (www.bioalps.org) and of the Swiss Life-Sciences Network Inartis (www.inartis-network.ch) and serves on several Boards and Advisory Boards. He has also published numerous articles and books in the field of biotechnology, Life Sciences and innovation (www.clef-du-savoir.com; www.republic-of-innovation.ch).
GGI Latin American Conference | San José, Costa Rica
Marco Vinicio Ruiz has a degree in Industrial Engineering, University of Costa Rica; MBA, New York University. He has developed businesses in food industry, agriculture and computer technology.
2006-10, Minister of Foreign Trade, Costa Rica, led negotiations of an Association Agreement with the European Union, as well as negotiations of FTAs with Panama, Singapore and the People's Republic of China; also concluded negotiations between the European Union and the banana-producing countries, thus ending the longest known dispute in the history of the World Trade Organization.
Since 2010, Ambassador of Costa Rica to the People's Republic of China. Former President: Costa Rican Business Federation; Central American Business Federations. Headed private sector through FTA of the Americas (FTAA) and Dominican Republic/Central America FTA with the US (CAFTA).
GGI Latin American Regional Conference | San José, Costa Rica
Edgar Herreras is the head of the Costa Rican Sugar Industry Corporation Liga Agrícola Industrial de la Caña de Azúcar –LAICA–, which is a longstanding Costa Rican Corporation, celebrating their 75th Anniversary in 2015. Mr. Herrera is a Business Administrator and holds a Masters Degree in International Trade & Marketing from Texas A & M University. LAICA groups and represents more than 8,000 medium and small sugar cane producers and 13 mills around the country.
For more than 13 years, has worked promoting sugar sales domestically and worldwide. In recent years, has worked strongly focused promoting an aggressive plan focused in the production of sugar and alcohol value added products.
He is President of the Caribbean Basin Initiative Ethanol Producers Group, Representative of the Central American Association Group in Washington DC , member of the World Sugar Research Organization and Representative of Costa Rica in the International Sugar Organization (I.S.O.)
Has participated in policy making forums and industry seminars in various countries as invited speaker by various agencies in United Kingdom, Switzerland, United States, Colombia, Netherlands, Bulgaria and Costa Rica